Martin and Co Ipswich reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Selfish, Uncaring, Disgraceful service.

I told the estate agent, A*****, that before I undertook my 5 hour journey from Kent to Cardiff, paid for hotel and take 2 days off work that:“My daughter is ill so going away is a problem, so I can only do so if it’s essential.” When I was outside the property, she rang to say that the tenant had gone away and that she could not show me the flat.Either extremely naive or I think just appalling. She should have known that the tenant had nothing to gain from the viewing and made extra special efforts to ensure that my viewing would go ahead.To add salt into an already open and bleeding wound, A*** started talking about how it inconvenienced her also. Incomparable as her journey from the office to the property was only 7 minutes. And all on her time as an employee not her personal time nor expense. She refused to meet me at the property rather than just discuss this with me stuck on the street over the phone.Not unreasonably, I used an expletive and put the phone down.

Mr · 27 February 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Don’t rent with Martin & Co

Don’t rent with Martin & Co, if something were to break like in my case the boiler Martin & Co will not get it fixed.On the 5th of December I realized that I had no heating in the apartment I rent from Martin & Co and I noticed that the boiler was not working. As per Martin & Co procedure I notified the incident on the Maintenance web page they have and them emailed Martin & Co several times regarding the issue but as of today 26th of February it has not been solved and I am spending most of the winter with no heating other than an electrical one that I borrowed from a work colleague but this is not enough to warm the whole apartment when he have seen temperature below -8C in Leicester this winter.In addition to the apartment being cold I am having an electric bill that is unnecessarily high because the water tank is working on electricity alone as boiler is not working and because of the electric heater I am having to use just to warm the area a bit.Martin & Co did close the incident on their web page despite several emails letting them know that the issue is not resolved. They have so far send 3 contractors to the property and they all leave saying that they will send an estimate to Martin & Co and will be back once approved. But when I ask Martin & Co they say they are awaiting approval from the Landlord. Is always the same cycle: contractor visit the property - Martin & Co says they are waiting for approval - they send a different contractor.If you are unlucky enough to be currently renting from them and you have to use the Maintenance portal Martin & Co have, don’t forget to send a follow up email as this way you have evidence of what you said and when as you wont be able to track any progress on their portal other than when the issue was opened, when Martin & Co (say that they have) send a contractor and when the issue is closed regardless of the issue being solved or not.

Fran · 26 February 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

no heating or hot water …

Iv had no heating or hot water for months. Myself and my Child, have to wash in freezing cold water, cant Bath- Shower or wash hair let alone wash up. Iv recorded countless videos showing boiler does not light up, and digital thermo box doesnt connect. All timed and dated. They also broke my Toilet, it now has continuasly leaked for 2 weeks resulting in a terrible smell in Bathroom. They havnt even acknowledge my Toilet leaking in all my complaints. This is Southend on sea Branch with a Man called Andrew in charge if managing my Home. He refuses to look at my recordings, and has sent people round who then say theres nothing wrong with the Boiler. Even though i have countleas proof thats BULL. just so they can charge the Landlord for call outs. Im classed as DISABLED, and need constant heating and hot water for control of my Fibro Pains. And having a young Child at home means nothing to them, ABSOLUTLY DISCUSTING MANAGMENT. So i have put these videos all over social media to show how incompetent the Management is in SOUTHEND ON SEA , MARTIN AND CO. They have made my life unberable and my Mental health explode out of control.

Customer · 10 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Frauders and scammers

Frauders and scammers. A company built on stolen money from honest people.Just got robbed half of my deposit because lies despite I have left the property in excellent conditions and got accused of damaging some furniture and received the flat dirty with already old broken furniture's.In fact I have provided myself dining table with chairs as the previous one was rotten.An unbelievable way to operate and an absence of service during the tenancy and after claiming to steal your money based on lies. Clearly a mafia built on internal politics to steal money to honest people. Avoid at all costs

Matteo · 24 December 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Martin & co pontefract disgrace !

Martin & co pontefract Terrible! Disgusting, breach contracts, ignore calls. They were supposed to be managing a property for us. Totally ignored written instructions we gave for electrical work to be done twice over 2 years. There were other issues that needed resolving, the quotes were astronomical ! when we organised The tradesmen ourselves even though it was supposed to be fully managed. They were simple small jobs. A roofing job they quoted over £700 for was one tile that was cracked. An alleged damp issue in a brand-new kitchen they quoted over £4000 but turned out to be The neighbours bath that had sprung a leak and had gone down the wall. They then stated they had another landlord interested in the property we accepted the offer on the proviso it was a quick sale which 4 months Later still hasn’t gone through. They have a lettings negotiator dealing with the sale she is acting solely for the buyer even though they are charging for the sale.(Breach of contract) The buyer has a number of properties and they are trying to get the business at our expense. They used a nail n the floor as urgent work to be completed prior to the sale ! It had been sorted out weeks before ! A NAIL !!! I have explained my husband is seriously ill and asked them to push the sale through prior to any operations it took three weeks for Michelle Stobbard the manager to ring me back after insisting she took over personally! They are a disgrace avoid at all costs.Disgusting!

Lesley · 25 September 2020

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Very good Service

Mike and Becky were great. They managed the letting and then sale of my father's property. Service was always very good, they were always responsive and willing to help and made the letting of the property hassle free.

Andrew · 3 July 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Great to deal with

Great to deal with, very smooth process throughout the sale of my property, kept me updated along the way. Would deal with again

Andrew · 1 July 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Was awful from start to finish

Was awful from start to finish. We should have realised that they were bad as we struggled to get through to them to make the appointment to view the property. Of course we got there fell in love with the view and said we would take it for a year. After packing up all our things in Essex they couldn't even tell us the exact date to move in because Freddy Jacques was so awful. Let me remind you we were moving from Essex not exactly round the corner from Sheffield. Well within the first week we had a couple of issues. I wanted to know who I had to pay the next lot of rent to the woman on the phone wouldn't give me the information and took multiple attempts to get this. They clearly didn't want paying. After having issues with both the hot water timer and the heating timer which was both badly handled. They couldn't tell me when the contractor was coming, who it was and when we did finally have someone and taking days off of work with him to fail to turn up three months later we got this fixed. We had heating but no way of controlling it in December and January. We handed in our 1 months notice and moved out earlier this year in June. When they carried out the final checks on the property, the report said and I quote "Requires a light clean" with the currant situation of Covid 19 I would of expected as a new tenant that the property would need a clean anyway which BTW doesn't happen before as we asked for it to be clean and it never materialised. I have read lots of reviews since moving out that say that they wanted money from you because of the state that you have left the property in and we were no different. They wanted £120 for a light clean... It was in better condition then when we moved in. Couple of pieces of advise to someone renting from Martin and Co is don't you will have so many issues and they say they will represent you but they don't. My second piece of advise is if they want money from you hold out we put our foot down and have got some of it back. We received £90 out of £120 I would say is a win.

Charlotte · 13 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Having rented through this company in huddersfield

Having rented through this company in Huddersfield I would recommend AVOID AT ALL COSTSI have just completed the DPS adjudication process as this company were trying to withhold £700 of my £800 deposit. I had to force the issue by obtaining a statutory declaration witnessed by a solicitor as they did not respond within the 14 day period. On investigation they were awarded £95 and not the £700 they claimed.Looking at the experiences others have had with Martin and co I would recommend anyone be careful with them.

S · 12 February 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Please read so you don't regret later!

Please read carefully if you are considering Martin & Co. as your letting agent.I started an agreement with them in November 2025 for a flat that was going to be vacant in December, after I passed all the reference processes, a contract was made after I paid the holding deposit, but I was unable to view the property as it was occupied (and they probably had issues with the tenant, so there was only a video tour provided).Almost a month after, and a week before getting the keys the apartment was finally empty. When I went to visit I found a lot of issues, from cleanliness to faulty appliances, soiled carpet that needed replacement, and awful overall conditions of the painting, bathrooms, and furniture. I asked for a deal to get the place fixed, painted, and renewed, on my own, but, the landlord didn't accept it, and now, 2 days before getting the keys with everything packed they just canceled my offer and said they would return my holding deposit.They don't answer the phone, ignore e-mails, and never speak to you clearly and have no empathy at all, even though they knew I had given notice where I currently live and was going to be homeless in a week, and because of holidays break, it will be nearly impossible to find another place in a suitable time.

Denis · 19 December 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Maintenance …

Just want to praise Gina and Rob from Crewe branch, Gina took a call from myself, Gina logged the repair and within 10 minutes Rob who is their maintenance guy was at our property fixing the issue. Thanks Gina

Deb · 8 May 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Google

Worst experience with them renting a property in Ipswich . 50% of the complaints raised via their online portal and email goes unanswered . Had a very difficult and long time to get the deposit back .

Roni · 16 March 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Disgusting customer service!

Just had a terrible experience with the Manchester branch. Fell in love with a flat and got a video viewing (which arrived in my inbox 2 days late) - the morning after I rang back straight away to say I wanted to sign contracts etc. The man on the other end of the phone had no idea how to do that (as they’re all online at the moment) so told me his colleague would ring back within 15 mins. She didn’t.I rang 5 times throughout the day and got an automated message saying they were busy. As it was Friday I had to wait until Monday to ring again, so I sent emails instead. None were replied to at any point.I rang all day Monday. Same message on the other end.I then finally got through on the Tuesday and they acted as though they’d never heard of me and had agreed to let the flat to someone else.Disgusted by their poor customer service and lack of apology!

Isabella · 6 August 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible experience with Martin & Co Cardiff

Martin & Co Cardiff is definitely one of the most unsatisfactory agents I have dealt with and will never recommend them for anyone, especially international students. Their service was awful. Despite charging a hefty and unreasonably large agent fee of £320, they handed me a dirty apartment with no prior cleaning done. Further, the apartment only had a few lights functioning and they failed to look into any of my maintenance requests that were repeatedly made at regular intervals throughout my tenancy. However, very conveniently and without any decency and contemplation, they charged me a £75 cleaning fee when I handed them a cleaned apartment. It is my strong belief and opinion that Martin & Co are unprofessional agents that leave no opportunity to charge vulnerable tenants with unreasonable fees and amounts.Agents are supposed to ease out the process of moving in and out, but my experience with Martin & Co has been the opposite.

Priyanjith · 5 August 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Attempting to rent a place from Martin and Co (Kirkcaldy)

I've recently been looking a place to rent in Kirkcaldy and Martin & Co have several properties up for rent. I've primarily been in contact with them by phone and within 3 minutes I already dislike the woman I'm on the phone with. She was incredibly rude and lied about the number of people interested in the house (I know the truth because my friend also called her as a "separate" party inquiring about the house. There is a clear lack of professionalism and communication from this company. I've rented from at least 5 different companies before and this one was by far the worst. She was so awful to us that we were fearful of even making a call to her.

Harry · 28 July 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid at all costs.

Awful firm to deal with, left a very sour taste in the mouth when tenancy came to an end. Pleasant enough to deal with in the most part, until it comes to check-out time, when the focus turns to ripping you off and ensuring no tenant ever receives their full deposit back. In trying to mediate and sort an agreement out, they decided to submit deductions to the DPS without consent and never contacted me again, ignoring subsequent emails. Spineless. Anyone renting through this firm - take as many photos as possible as soon as you move in to evidence even the slightest whiff of dust or any slight blemish in the place, trust me, they will charge you for it at the end if you don't.. I would avoid at all costs if you can, I will certainly be recommending they are avoided to anyone I know myself.

Jacob · 26 January 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Keep all the evidence you can!

Do not use this company. The whole tenancy was nothing but a nightmare. The property was given to us in a terrible state. Dirty, grimy, mouldy and mostly everything given broken and not useable. We have just had the long process with the DPS of getting over £1000 deposit back, which they falsely took from us. We have just been awarded this under investigation showing them making up complete lies to make monetary gain. The people who work for this company are rude and nasty. I have seen running comments of this company taking deposits back from people, keeping peoples hard working money. Please I advise anyone with this issue to take as many photos and evidence that you can. This has helped us massively to catch them out and, reading comments this is something they think they can get away with. Do not trust these people.

Nola · 17 January 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Excellent letting agent

I have recently moved into a Bournemouth Martin&Co property and it’s superb.As I was coming from abroad, Daniel who dealt with the property request reassured me and made the whole process so simple that through digital innovative technologies everything including contract was perfectly done online. When I came to collect keys from the office that I met the rest of the team. Monica made the rest of process for smooth. Even introduced me to other procedures and systems that moving to UK became a simple process.I would highly recommend Martin&Co to anyone and this has been the best dealing I have had with any lettings agents.

Sreekala · 30 May 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Money grabbers!!

Not going to leave a lengthy review as it seems the others here have covered the same points. Nothing but fees, fees and fees. Luckily didn't have any problems during my tenancy but when moving out half the deposit was taken to have the property professionally cleaned. You would have thought due to the current climate some consideration would have been taken but obviously not. Do not hire a rug doctor to clean the carpets as apparently this does not count as professionally cleaned! May as well not clean the place as you will just be charged regardless... Whoever has been paid to clean the place has had the easiest money they will ever earn!! Glad I now own my own property and don't have to deal with these money grabbers, if I ever need to rent again I will not be touching this lot with a barge pole!!

Matt · 15 May 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Chocolate Teapot and Co

Avoid like covid19! If I could give any less stars I would. The whole thing has been an absolute joke. The could not organise a booze up in a brewery. From start to now and I'm only in 3 months into tenancy. If you saw this in a comedy sketch then you'd accept it! Start- they push you, put pressure on you to put money down deposit and to save the property. They Pester you. Constant emails about getting you to pay and giving you unrealistic deadlines. Likes it life or death. Once you're in they will mess you about on when to collect your keys to your new letting. They told me to be there at 330. So left work early to then be told the keys would not be ready until half 4. So I had the delight to sit in that dingy office for half an hour with the not so pleasant estate agents. I know its not a hotel, restaurant or pub but Jesus wept, be hospitable. You're tenants are spending a lot of money per month. Now you're in the property and you should need anything you may aswell do it yourself. When we moved in there was a faulty chair that I fell through and we still have not had a reply from that. That was almost 9 weeks ago. Trying to communicate with the staff is like all hope is gone. My flatmate has had to leave the property due to the pandemic and work related issues this was 5 weeks ago and we still haven't had a reply. This is a serious matter. We need her off the tenancy. We've been through things about 5 times with different staff. There is no communication between staff members. God forbid you dont have to find another job and have to interview because you'd seriously struggle. If you cannot be arsed helping us. Just tell us. We will contact the landlord. We will do things and probably make his life easier. I know there's a pandemic going on but maybe put an auto reply on and suggest that you're not going to be replying quickly our property manager - a chocolate tea pot is more useful.Reply to our emails and help us sort our lives out. I'm sure you dont want to keep seeing myself and my friends emaisl in your inbox 3 times a day looking for answers. By the look of things I'm not the only one who's having issues. So maybe the owners of the Martin and co chain really need to look into sorting this office out. It looks like people have become too comfortable in their jobs and don't want to make a difference anymore. Please get in touch with us. We need to move on. Weve got lives to live.

Luke · 15 May 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

had issues with the place i live and…

had issues with the place i live and have submitted so many maintinence requests and they have sorted 0 of themEdit: no because you won't be able to do anything to help, i have gone to great lengths even contacting council to get issues sorted and still nothing has been done. I'm not wasting another minute talking to martin & co if i don't have to.update to this: sine i done this review i was without heating for 7 weeks so thanks again martin and co, i have since moved out and hope to never rent from martin and co again

Peter · 3 January 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

If you are looking to rent through a…

If you are looking to rent through a property through Martin and co, one word of advice - don’t. I’m a relatively easy going person and if I don’t have a great experience with a company 9 out of 10 times I let it go and move on with my day but honestly, the experience I had is beyond belief. I rented a property with my friend, firstly the fees to actually make an application were crazy. There’s an application fee, a credit check fee, a fee for referencing.. you name it there’s a fee for it -but whatever, we like the flat so paid. Make sure you have a couple of grand handy just to get your hands of the keys (which for most people like myself isn’t easy) being shown around the property we were told there wasn’t a washing machine but would be at the time of moving in. when we moved into the property there was mould all over the bathroom and kitchen - we cleaned it and didn’t complain. First day we went to put a load of washing on and realised the washing machine was a dud, not working, not attached to any of the plugs and when we pulled it out looked like they’d picked it up as scrap at the tip and shoved it in the kitchen to fill the gap - it didn’t turn on! We asked for a new one and was told they would sort it. This took 3 weeks after constant chasing up we both work on a hospital and need clean clothes for work. Next - expect constant inspections. Every month without fail, and you have no control over the time or date. I advised I was working nights so I would be asleep in the day but they insisted they couldn’t be flexible so I had to either stay awake (after staying awake all night) or they would barge in my bedroom whilst I was sleeping (this actually happened) Another ridiculous problem - our property had electric gates to the car park which they supplied us ONE key for between two adults; working different shifts. This meant if one of us had to go to work, the other would be trapped in the car park with no way out. Most days I would have to hang around in the car park an hour before work trying to catch someone else on their way in or out so I could leave! I informed them of this and their advice was ‘you’ll have to go round and knock on neighbours doors until someone can go and let you out’ OF MY OWN PROPERTY. I asked them for another key, they said they had another one but this was an office copy for their use only to conduct inspections. So basically, they were allowed access to and from my property more than myself who actually lived there. In the end they told me I had to buy another key fob out of my own money (80 quid) travel 20 miles to pick it up from another office. I did this out of desperation and they said they would refund this. That took 3 months of chasing up. Boiler was on the blink constantly and a month before I moved out it started pissing out water. Now with no hot water and no heating in January I rang them and they informed me they would have someone out as soon as possible. I chased this up for 2 weeks. It was so cold my flat mate moved back to her parents for this time. I was unable to so I was working all night, staying up all day ringing Martin and co with no luck or update. I had to stay awake because on the off chance a plumber turned up, I would have to go down to the car park and let the plumber in because of the gate situation! They also would not give us access to our meter readings and made us set up a fixed sum to pay the gas directly to them every month, after we insisted we check the meters it turned out our usage was a lot lower than what they were charging us and meant we were hundreds of pounds in credit! If we hadn’t said anything they would have kept taking our money and never said a word! The gate had an access code on it, I asked for this and they told me this was confidential despite me actually living there! I asked for money off the rent because it had made flat uninhabitable - I got a no. They also periodically increase the rent by small amounts and charge a hefty fee to renew your contract every 3-6 months. The part that really takes the biscuit is on moving out, I knew they would be a stickler for giving back the deposit. We repainted every room and professionally cleaned the carpets - then got a bill for the walls as we had repainted them THE WRONG SHADE OF WHITE! They also refused to give me my mail that had been delivered to the property afterwards. Advised they could not verify that I was the actual recipient of the mail, even after renting to me for two years. They actually had the mail behind the desk with me at the front of the desk and refused to give me it and advised I should contact Royal Mail and pay them to redirect all my mail. This was a letter from the nhs detailing an appointment I had been waiting for for 9 months so I then missed this and got put back on a waiting list. Oh and last but not least - the day we gave our notice in they started doing viewings on the flat that they expected US to host between shifts! Crazy!

Customer · 25 April 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Fees fees FEES!

Just finished my tenancy with these guys and I have to say I've not really been impressed throughout the 2 year tenancy. When we started the tenancy they presented us with a 30 page contract (yes. 30 pages.) and the agent was then dismayed and irritated when I insisted on reading every page before initialling and signing it (as you would - seeing as my previous contracts have been as short as 4 pages of A4). This was because they wanted to get out on time at 4pm on a Friday - You'd think being paid the fat end of £2.5k would warrant an extra 15 to 30 minutes in the office right? Right from the start of tenancy we had issues with the garage door opener which didn't work and it took them nearly 7 months to get us a replacement remote which actually worked. This was despite us chasing them weekly and even contacting the manufacturer ourselves to get the right spec - this definitely is above and beyond what I as the tenant should be doing.During the tenancy they wanted to conduct regular inspections - I have no issue with this but they were VERY uncooperative on when these inspections happened. Me and my housemate are both NHS healthcare professionals working shifts and they point blank refused to accommodate our shift pattern into their inspections because "they are very busy" and at one point even woke me up between nightshifts at 11am just to peak into my bathroom. (She was also surprised by me when I woke up with a start meaning that it clearly wasn't communicated to her that would be post-nights/sleeping either!)Around midway through the tenancy we encountered an issue with our utility supplier because we had been giving them readings from the wrong meter - when we asked M&Co where our electricity meter actually was, they wanted an £80 call-out fee to come and show us, even though the meter we had been taking readings from was the one they stipulated on their inventory documents. Thanks to assistance from other residence in the building, the actual meter was discovered behind a locked door which I was not provided a key for - in the end I had to go get one cut (oh and they refused to reimburse me for this too).This brings me on to the final issue with M&Co. FEES. Every single little thing has a fee attached to it and frankly, I've never known anything like it and I've rented a couple of times in different places around the county. So lets run though it: Set up fee: £225. Additional tenant fee: £75. Tenancy renewal fee: £75. Checkout fee: £120. Oh and call out fee: £80. (others that I thankfully managed to avoid paying include Guarantor Fee: £90, Amendment fee: £450 and out of hours service: £60). So for two people staying 2 years is a minimum of £495 in fees alone which I found to be unacceptable. (Oh and all of these are in addition to whatever they are charging the landlord - so good luck to the landlord here..)Another small niggle is that they are very sluggish to reply to emails which when they do reply, include lack of basic grammar and email etiquette. Written communications sometimes included one line and even one word replies - frankly its unprofessional. Your tenants are just as much your customers as your landlords are. Show some care and respect! I will given them that beyond the above, our tenancy ran smoothly and the property was lovely - but frankly I can't give them more than 1 star for this because these are the basics! There was no effort made on their part to improve the service they gave and frankly, when you're paying just short of £500 for something, I want it gold standard - this isn't. Sorry guys - You did ask for a review!

Tom · 23 April 2020

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Fantastic team

Fantastic team, they helped me în any issue,from start to finish, I want to thank to Michael and Kim , I felt safe to have them as a letting agency, very prompt and professionals. Thank you

Carmen · 29 July 2022